Affectionately dubbed “Brew City” by local residents, Milwaukee—as well as the entire state—found long and enduring industrial success with beer. Early breweries date back to the 1830s, with more than 300 operating across the state by the 1890s. By the close of the nineteenth century, Milwaukee had forged much of Wisconsin’s economic growth through its thriving meatpacking and brewing industries.

Emerging in tandem with and helping to foster the state’s new industries, railroad networks also began developing in Wisconsin in the 1850s. The Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad linked its namesake city and river, via Madison, in 1857. That line eventually became part of an 11,000-mile company that spanned from the Ohio River to the Pacific: the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad—universally known as The Milwaukee Road.